National Museum of Singapore

Our room at the budget friendly Strand Hotel was ready early. We had a quick lunch at the food court across the street (i.e. a modern day hawker centre!), and then walked 5 minutes to the nearby National Museum for our introduction to this small but mighty nation, The museum was established in 1849 as the Raffles Library and Museum before moving to its present location in 1887, and a restoration was completed in 2006. The galleries began with an artistic presentation on trees in the city. The main gallery was the history, including the merger with Malaya and then separation two years later.

The evidence of human settlement extends back only 7,000 years and recorded history to the 14th century when the first ruler of Singapura had a palace on hill. In 1819, Raffles recommended that the strategic position of Singapore would be a valuable British asset and Fort Canning was built on the site of the ruined palace. Many grand colonial buildings were constructed, these are all beautifully restored lying within our immediate neighborhood.

A repeat theme in Singapore is of a melting pot of people and religions in its strategic position as a trading post. The major difference here was that 60% of the population is of Chinese descent rather than Malay. Thus, although Singapore joined with Sarawak and Malaya to form Malaysia in 1963 under Tunku Abdul Rahman, it separated in 1965. Of particular interest was a video of the first prime minister, Mr. Lee, giving an emotional address to the nation stating that Tunku of Malaysia decided that Singapore would need to separate due to the ethnic and religious differences that, in his judgement, would continue to be conflictual in the long run. Thus, Mr. Lee started on the challenging path to build a nation based on equality; unlike Malaysia which gives preference to ethnic Malays and is officially Islamic, Singapore has no state religion.

This small nation has gone from a 3rd to 1st world country in fifty years, now ranking in the top 10 wealthiest countries with an average annual income of $80,000 USD/year per person (Canada is at $55,000). The government was very directive in its approach (some would say dictatorial) and there continues to be a clear expectation that you’ll follow through for the common good with signs reminding you of the expectations and to be a good citizen. The government built housing complexes for low income people (HBC Housing) after a Kampong burnt down and assigned people purposely to mix ethnicities up. In the 70s, street vendors were organized into "Hawker Centres: where there was proper plumbing, sanitation and gas stoves. Thus, as a visitor you see no destitute people and organized outdoor food stalls. Due to the unusually high temperatures (mid 30s+) while we were there, we found stalls with local Hawker history selling non franchised food in air conditioned spaces; these were by far the most economical option.Read more